Scope - Therapy, Training, Consultancy - Communication Resource Centre

Current Research Activities

Changes in attitudes towards and willingness to work with people with complex communication needs: Potential impact of a course in Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

Hilary Johnson, Karen Bloomberg and Teresa Iacono found that following a semester course in AAC, undergraduate speech pathology students demonstrated significant improvements in their comfort in interacting with people with disabilities, as measured by the Interaction with Disabled Persons scale (Gething, 1994). However, there was no difference in their willingness to work with people with disabilities, including those with complex communication needs, following the course in comparison to the start of the course. The project has also involved determining how many recent speech pathology graduates are working in disability and how well they feel their undergraduate training prepared them. Interviews and focus groups have been conducted with both speech pathologists working with people with complex communication needs and those working with other groups to provide richer information on what has influenced speech pathologists’ decisions about the client group with whom they prefer to work. Data analysis is in progress.

Conference Presentation
Johnson, H., Bloomberg, K., & Iacono, T. (2004). "Attitudes towards and willingness to work with people with disabilities: Potential impact of a course in augmentative and alternative communication." Paper presented at the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability, Montpellier, France, June.

Evaluation of the Triple-C Checklist of Communicative Competencies as an Assessment Tool for Adults with Severe Intellectual Disability.

This prospective study is being conducted by Karen Bloomberg, Denise West, Teresa Iacono and Hilary Johnson. The overall aim of the study is to explore reliability and validity properties of the modified Triple C, and to determine the extent to which use of the Triple C, following training, increases support workers’ sensitivity to potential communicative behaviours of adults with severe intellectual disability in their care. The research questions are (a) What is the agreement between two observers in terms of stage assignment resulting from their independent completion of the Triple C in relation to the same adult? (b) What is the agreement between stage assignment resulting from support worker-completed checklists and that determined by direct observation by an expert of the adult within routine and structured sampling activities? (c) Is there a difference in the accuracy with which support workers assign a communication stage prior to training and use of the Triple C in comparison to after training and use? (d) What communication behaviours do support workers report to have observed in a person with severe intellectual disability in their care pre- versus post training in and use of the Triple C? Data collection is in progress.

Use of augmentative and alternative communication in early childhood intervention.

This is the first phase in a study being conducted by Marnie Cameron and Teresa Iacono. The aim is to explore knowledge and practices of speech pathologists working in early childhood services in relation to supporting children with complex communication needs and language delays. Speech pathologists working in early childhood settings will be invited to participate in focus groups or interviews. Questions will focus on their approaches to supporting children’s communication, understanding and use of augmentative and alternative communication or visual support strategies, factors that facilitate or hinder their use of such strategies, and how the Communication Resource Centre can best support best practice in this area. This project will inform later studies that will allow us to compare current practice to what is considered best practice amongst clinicians and according to the published research.